Keeping with the Brewfest theme, Hickory Hops Brewfest is coming up April 18th in Hickory, NC. The town of Hickory isn't much of a destination with the exception of their recently refurbished downtown area where the festival is held. The festival is sponsored by the Old Hickory Tap Room, located on the square next to the festival area. This is a great place for dinner afterwards.

If you can't wait for the Asheville Brewfest, the Classic City Brewfest in Athens, GA is coming up much sooner. The bad news is that it is already sold out, but according to their website, you can still attend as a volunteer. I can speak from personal experience at some Greenville events, that pulling beer at a festival is a lot of fun. And downtown Athens offers a lot of good places to hangout afterwards.

Imagine being parked in a lounge chair under a large elm tree in a North Carolina mountain town in autumn with unlimited access to the best beer in the region, listening to the area's best fiddle, banjo and guitar players performing a few feet away. You can't beat that.

On that note, Ashevegas is reporting that tickets for the best micro-brew festival in the area, Asheville's Brewgrass Festival, went on sale at noon today. Although the festival doesn't take place until September, they always sell out early.

I attended this beerfest a couple of times when it was held in Asheville's Pack Square, which was an ideal spot for a beer festival. The past few years they've been holding it nearby at Martin Luther King Jr. Park which I can't vouch for one way or the other since I've never been there. But they always have an excellent collection of brewers who show up. Having attended several beerfests (in Athens, GA, Nashville, Hickory, NC and even here in Greenville) this is the best run festival I've attended with the largest variety of beer.

Yes, Greenville tried this a few years ago. I think it lasted for two years but South Carolina's restrictive alchohol laws prevented it from being financially viable. There have been efforts since to bring the Greenville Beerfest back but with little success.